When soccer star Ronaldinho sat down to speak to reporters at a press conference, the last thing he thought would happen is that he would lose an endorsement deal worth $750,000. But that’s exactly what happened when Ronaldinho sat in the press conference and casually sipped a Pepsi. Which in turn pissed off Coca-Cola executives so much that they pulled their sponsorship of Ronaldinho.

Ronaldinho stunned Coke chiefs by turning up at a press conference and sipping nonchalantly from a can of their arch-rivals’ fizzy pop. Furious bosses at the Atlanta-based firm immediately demanded that the plug be pulled on his huge endorsement deal, according to a report in the ‘O Estado de Sao Paulo’ newspaper.

Ronaldinho recently moved to a new club, Atletico Mineiro, and Coke bosses claim that they had already been growing weary of the star’s antics.

“The fact that the player has appeared with a can of Pepsi was the straw that broke the camel’s back,” Coca Cola marketing chief Marcelo Pontes told the paper. “The sponsorship had become embarrassing.”